Robert Smigel’s new podcast begins with a challenge worthy of the comedy Pantheon: can three SNL writers make a Harvard a cappella group’s between-song banter funny?
That’s the mission in the debut episode of Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends, which finds Smigel joined by longtime Saturday Night Live cast member Mikey Day and SNL head writer Streeter Seidell to help The Harvard Yardbirds punch up their live show.
The group’s problem, as laid out in a call to the show, is simple: they can sing, but the patter between songs could use work. Smigel, Day, and Seidell proceed to treat that as seriously as any sketch premise, workshopping self-deprecating Harvard jokes, a running bit about a member looking for her third husband, alternate group names, holiday-song parody lyrics, and one especially deranged character concept called “Yale Boy.”
Later, the episode flashes forward to see what happened when The Harvard Yardbirds actually tried some of the material in front of an audience—with surprisingly encouraging results. There’s even a surprise appearance by an SNL alum, whose identity is best left unspoiled, but whose commitment to the bit is very much in keeping with the assignment.
Humor Me is produced by Big Money Players, Will Ferrell’s podcast network. A partner of iHeartMedia, Big Money Players has been home to Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ show Las Culturistas since 2020. Its roster also includes The Nikki Glaser Podcast, My Momma Told Me (co-hosted by Langston Kerman), and The Amber & Lacey Lacey & Amber Show (with Amber Ruffin).
Watch the show’s debut episode at the top of this post.
